It was written on my old pre-PC Amiga, so long-gone. The arc was called "The Reformation" and I wanted to do something with Mark's Riverworld / Judgement Day scenario - where you had all these different groups of people who had come back from the afterlife from various points in history / different eras - the idea was that there'd be a collapse, a massive, potentially-endless civil war with different factions vying for power....things would fall apart into chaos, held only together by a new group of Priests, incl. some real-life / historical Puritans / Jacobean warrior-priest types (this was a looong time before Defoe was conceived by Pat Mills) who still clove to the old patriarchal God tradition. Fodder - now in partial retirement and a sort of Gaia follower - has to pull things back from the brink, which would also bring him into conflict with the other priests (who kinda represent him as he used to be...more rigid / unforgiving / patriarchal)....blablahblah, etc.....anyway, it was sposed to be a bit like that.

Q: Unusually, the second Canon Fodder story is ranked higher in online reader polls than the first – why do you think that is?

A: Because it's much better. It's got a better storyline, one that makes some sort of sense. It's better paced and I'd improved as an artist by then, too. I was extremely impressed with Nigel's work on this, and I'd hoped it was the start of a beautiful relationship. Unfortunately, owing to a severe illness, he kind of disappeared from the scene altogether. Shame.

Pity the rather confused business about ownership (Chris suggests they never sent out a contract for the first one, which is one of many examples of Fleetway's slack legal department which is still causing arseache today) rather killed this story. However, they did reprint it in the Meg supplements, so they may have addressed this situation by now....

BC have 4 pages of the next Low Life and D'Israeli's art looks amazing. I've said it before but he really is Tharg's secret weapon - he is deployed on a range of projects and never once fails to deliver in spades (often changing his style to suit the project, which you don't see much these days). God forbid the Yankies steal him, but they don't seem that interested in him (although I suppose the Big Two are after more realistic art for their superheroes but that has never stopped them from stealing Tharg's droids with their own unique styles, like Frazer Irving).

Just in case anyone out there is unsure about hopping on to this week's prog, I feel I have to say that Indigo Prime is worth the price of admission alone. If the series maintains the level of quality of part one, it's going to be very,very special indeed.

If the series maintains the level of quality of part one, it's going to be very,very special indeed.

I am happy to guarantee that it not only maintains this level but when you look back on the start, you'll see it is actually a bit of a slow-burner and things will get steadily ramped up until it is at truly brain-melting levels.

Also don't expect one long run, the larger story is going to be in chunks, that build up a much larger picture. That way Tharg can greenlight the next chunk while John is still working on later pages - it is taking a while to get everything down because he is attempting to get some rather way-out physics and metaphysics boiled down into comic form, which is pretty tricky but should be well worth it when you finally see it on the page (unless he breaks Edmund Bagwell at some point and he goes on a rampage trying to draw the pages onto passers-by using a Stanley knife).

If anyone is new to Indigo Prime then 2000AD have made the story from prog 678 available to read - it is where Chris Weston came on-board as the artist and everything clicked, it explains the background, introduces Winwood and Cord (who go on to be the main characters in Killing Time and the current story) and there is even a chart of the organisation. You can download it from here.

Just thought I'd bump this, we are three issues on from the 1750 jumping-on point and 2 from Angel Zero joining the line-up, so how are people enjoying it?

Personally, I think this is the best run of the year (perhaps for the last few years) with a strong line-up across the board - you can tell the prog is on form if 2 stories are fighting for my favourite story of the week and John Wagner's Dredd is back in third position.

I'm a very recent convert, due to the help of Emperor and others on this site showing me the way. Sir, you're a scholar, and a gentleman. Or at least a gentleman.

As with any anthology, there are hits and misses, but there's interesting things to note in the misses as well as the hits.

Some of the 'Big Hits" haven't really grabbed me at all. But reading books like Caballistics, Button Man, early Missionary Man, Simping Detective (thanks Si!), The Kingdom, and Shakara all in the last few months have been like having a few decades of greatness injected right into my skull.

"Just thought I'd bump this, we are three issues on from the 1750 jumping-on point and 2 from Angel Zero joining the line-up, so how are people enjoying it? Personally, I think this is the best run of the year (perhaps for the last few years) with a strong line-up across the board - you can tell the prog is on form if 2 stories are fighting for my favourite story of the week and John Wagner's Dredd is back in third position."

Totally agree with you Emperor. Just got caught up with the issues since 1750, and the new stories are fantastic.

Well it is getting to the end of the year and 2000AD is popping up in people's round-ups:

EvilPants has clearly been so impressed that, despite being new to thrills, he has named 2000AD his favourite anthology of 2011: " The work being done this year in 2000AD is superior to most of the work being done by either of the big 2 American publishers right now. Yeah, I said it. It’s that good."

Colin Smith has been doing his usual thoughtful posts, this time flagging up problems he has seen in the industry and comics that have bucked the trend - in his first instalment he names Low Life and Nikolai Dante as being fine examples of storytelling and putting some heart back into comics.

Also don't forget, Prog 2012 is out now and next year's stories start here (along with festive one-offs), it is a perfect jumping-on point and worth it just for the chose-your-own-adventure Judge Dredd story, from Al Ewing and John Higgins - I'm going back for another go now.

Damn, I used to have nearly every prog up to about 700-800, but I lost them in a flood years ago. I've not read it for a while, but this thread has got me interested in it again. John Higgins - a good artist.

Anyway, I was just popping in to point out that there is currently a sale on at the 2000AD shop, with a lot of hefty discounts (I had to take stuff out of my shopping basket when I realised I'd got a bit carried away). For newer readers I've dropped a few recommendations into the sale thread on the forum.